La banda tocarà divendres, i la meva cosina ja m'ha dit que els aplaudirà molt.

Both are in the simple future.

• tocarà = will play
• aplaudirà = will applaud

They are both third person singular forms:

• la banda tocarà = the band will play
• la meva cosina ... aplaudirà = my cousin ... will applaud

This tense is formed by adding endings to the infinitive:

• tocar → tocarà
• aplaudir → aplaudirà

So if an English speaker sees -à at the end here, that is a strong clue that the verb is future, he/she/it.

In Catalan, days of the week are often used without a preposition when meaning on a specific day.

• tocarà divendres = it will play on Friday

So Catalan often does not need a separate word for English on in this kind of sentence.

A useful contrast:

• divendres = on Friday / this Friday
• el divendres = on Fridays / every Friday in some contexts

So here, divendres most naturally refers to a specific upcoming Friday, not a repeated event.

Catalan normally uses the definite article with possessives:

• la meva cosina = my cousin
• el meu amic = my friend
• la seva mare = his/her mother

This is different from English, where you usually just say my cousin without the.

So for English speakers, it is helpful to think:

• Catalan: the my cousin
• English: my cousin

Of course, in natural English you would never say the my cousin, but that is roughly how the structure works.

There are a few special cases where the article may be dropped, especially with some family words in certain contexts, but la meva cosina is completely normal and standard.

ja often means already, but its exact feel depends on context.

Here:

• ja m'ha dit = has already told me

It suggests that this information has already been said before now, perhaps earlier than expected, or simply that the speaker already knows it because the cousin told them.

Depending on tone, ja can also give a sense like:

• by now
• as it happens
• indeed/already

But in this sentence, already is the clearest translation.

m'ha dit breaks down like this:

• m' = short form of em = to me
• ha dit = has said / has told

So:

• m'ha dit = has told me

This is a very common Catalan pattern with a clitic pronoun before the verb.

Full structure:

• em ha dit → shortened to m'ha dit

The shortening happens because em comes before a verb form beginning with a vowel:

• em ha → m'ha

So the sentence part:

• la meva cosina ja m'ha dit que... means
• my cousin has already told me that...

Because this is the present perfect in Catalan.

• ha dit = has said / has told

It is formed with:

• the auxiliary haver
• plus a past participle

Here:

• ha = has
• dit = past participle of dir (to say / to tell)

So:

• ha dit = has said / has told

This is parallel to English:

• has told
• has said

In the sentence, Catalan uses the present perfect for the earlier action:

• ja m'ha dit = has already told me

Then it uses the future for the later action:

• els aplaudirà = she will applaud them

Here que introduces a subordinate clause, just like English that:

• m'ha dit que... = has told me that...

So the structure is:

• la meva cosina ja m'ha dit = my cousin has already told me
• que els aplaudirà molt = that she will applaud them a lot

In everyday English, that is often omitted:

• My cousin has already told me she’ll applaud them a lot.

In Catalan, que is very commonly kept in this kind of sentence.

This is a very natural question.

• la banda is grammatically singular
• but els means them (plural, masculine or mixed group)

Why? Because the pronoun is not necessarily pointing to the word banda as a singular grammatical unit. It can refer to the people in the band, understood as a group of individuals.

So the meaning is roughly:

• The band will play on Friday, and my cousin has already told me that she’ll applaud them a lot.
• In other words: the band members

This is similar to English, where people sometimes switch between a collective noun and the people inside it:

• The team is playing tonight. I hope we cheer them loudly.

Catalan can do something similar here.

Here els is a direct object pronoun meaning them.

It stands for the people being applauded.

• aplaudir algú = to applaud someone
• aplaudir-los / aplaudir-los molt = to applaud them / applaud them a lot

In the sentence:

• els aplaudirà = she will applaud them

For an English speaker, the important thing is that Catalan object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb:

• els aplaudirà
• literally: them she-will-applaud

That is normal Catalan word order.

Because in standard Catalan, object pronouns usually come before a conjugated verb.

Examples from the sentence:

• m'ha dit = has told me
• els aplaudirà = will applaud them

So Catalan says:

• me has-told
• them will-applaud

rather than putting me or them after the verb as English usually does.

This is one of the most important sentence-pattern differences between English and Catalan.

A quick comparison:

• English: She told me

• Catalan: Em va dir / M'ha dit

• English: She will applaud them
• Catalan: Els aplaudirà

Here molt means a lot.

• els aplaudirà molt = she will applaud them a lot

It works as an adverb modifying the verb aplaudirà.

Putting molt after the verb is very normal in Catalan:

• treballa molt = he/she works a lot
• parla molt = he/she talks a lot
• els aplaudirà molt = she will applaud them a lot

So the final molt is simply telling you the action will be done to a great extent.

Yes, in isolation aplaudirà molt could simply mean will applaud a lot.

But in this sentence, the pronoun els makes the target explicit:

• els aplaudirà molt = she will applaud them a lot

So molt tells you the degree of the applause, and els tells you who receives it.

Without els, the sentence would be more general:

• aplaudirà molt = she will applaud a lot

With els:

• els aplaudirà molt = she will applaud them a lot

Because the sentence talks about two different times:

1. something that has already happened

   • la meva cosina ja m'ha dit
   • my cousin has already told me

2. something that will happen later

   • els aplaudirà molt
   • she will applaud them a lot

So the tenses match the timeline:

• present perfect for a past action connected to the present
• future for a later action

This combination is very natural in both Catalan and English:

• She has already told me that she will applaud them a lot.

Here tocar means to play a musical instrument or to perform music.

So:

• La banda tocarà divendres = The band will play on Friday

Catalan tocar can mean several things depending on context, including:

• to touch
• to play an instrument
• to perform music

Because the subject is la banda, the musical meaning is the obvious one here.